Enter Naoto Shirogane, The Detective Prince
by Porporino the III
Summary: A PERSONA 4 story: Naoto Shirogane isn’t having the easiest time adapting to the new lifestyle of a Persona user…


So, I don't know for sure, but I think I may be the first to put up something on this section pertaining to Persona 4. Hopefully I don't have everyone too Out Of Character, but still, I'll do my best.

This takes place right after Naoto, the final party member, joins your team. I realize that there are people out there who don't want to be given too much, if any, info in regards to the game yet, and would like to learn everything for themselves by playing it upon its release. I wholeheartedly understand. So,…

The following story will reveal a great deal about the average exploits of our characters, not to mention the characters themselves, a small portion of the main plot, and quite a **LARGE **chunk of the character Naoto as well. If you don't want to read this, feel free to leave now. Just try to maybe come back someday once the game is out, and maybe read it later? Please? Anyway just remember, at the end of this paragraph, past the spoiler warning, there will be info about the game that you may not want to know yet, for anyone else who wants to read (and I hope there are at least a few of you) please feel free to continue.

!!*SPOILERS*!!

For those of you who have decided to read my story, or at least read this far, I thank you. Now, just to make sure everyone understands what's going on, here's a brief summary of some Persona 4 game mechanic/plot spoilers:

As revealed in P3: FES, the Shadows and Persona are the same thing, and one can only receive their persona by knowing/facing and internally admitting to their personal demons and insecurities. Failure to do so results in your shadow-self overpowering you, or abruptly killing you,… or devouring your mind…(examples: the Apathy Syndrome victims in P3, or the "murder" victims in P4). Anyway, each of the main characters gets kidnapped and trapped in a "dungeon" based on their insecurities/internal issues etc.

Once finding their way to the top of the area, the team learns a few facts about the character Naoto, fight the Shadow-Naoto, and rescue their fellow classmate from their own personal hell.

So, this takes place roughly _five days after_ the **day** that the team saves Naoto, and also, I'll be referring to the Main Character as _**Soji**_** (**I read elsewhere, and first, that is was written as** Souji**_**, **_but the former seems to fit better with the last name of his uncle, Dojima, rather than how it's also seen, Doujima)** Seta**, since that's what I hear he's been named in the manga. Anyone who doesn't really know a whole lot about the characters or what they look like should go the main Persona 4 website. They also have clips where you can hear their voices(!). So after this long winded introduction, here we go:

**Disclaimer**: As much as I **LOVE THIS SERIES**,…I own nothing exclusive to the _SMT:_ _Persona_ franchise…and it hurts to know this.

_Naoto Shirogane isn't having the easiest time adapting to the new lifestyle of a Persona user…_

XxXxX

PERSONA 4

Enter Naoto,

_The Detective Prince_

Chapter 1: Abrasive Azul

…It was a television. That was it,… _just_ a television. A television-set on display, sitting amongst other TV's in a far corner of the store. Of course, in all respects, Naoto guessed it was a rather _nice_ television set, with its _thin_ black frame and _wide_ screen…but even so, to any **normal** person, it was just a fancy television,…

…A fancy television currently surrounded by several socially **diverse** Yasogami High School students. A group of individuals that, given more than just a passing glance, would appear completely out of place against the people they were with. Even while wearing the same uniforms of their school, not a single person in the pack seemed to have much in common with any other teenager they were standing beside.

But then, that was also to be expected, considering no **normal** person would ever guess, nor **dream**, of what really tied these students together…

X

It had already been _five_ _days_ since the incident,…**120** **hours** filled with questions; some of which were aimed towards her _sanity_, while the others were directed towards some of the others who'd rescued her. And yet, the **memory** of the event,…of escaping "_that place_," was as crisp in her mind as ever.

The musty smells clogging her nose, the mechanical noises screeching out at nearly every angle,…the mouthy doppelganger that very nearly **killed** her… The relief she'd felt post-escape, woven neatly alongside the confusion that had swelled within her…The weight of the questions and fatigue simultaneously bearing down on her...her classmates' words of worry, and attempts at quick but satisfying explanations…

Naoto had plenty of reasons to have been relieved (not just relieved but **damn** **thrilled**) to leave that horrid "dungeon," and not care in slightest _how_ the **hell** they ended up back home…

"Like _walking through a television, for instance…_," Naoto thought humorlessly.

Even with those memories, and the emotions glued to them, as unusually lucid as they were, Naoto was still surprised to find it took a noticeable amount of effort to keep from shuddering at the flash backs of her disturbing prison. After all, the entire concept was incredibly difficult for any average person to grasp, let alone consciously **believe**. Naoto found it hard enough to believe that, (regardless of the talk of _Shadows_ and **Personas'**) she really could have wound up being the most recent victim of the bizarre "murders" that had plagued their previously silent town, had it not been for the rescue her classmates performed…

"Naoto-kun?"

Naoto's head quickly spun to her right, connecting gazes with one of her Senpai.

"Y-Yes, Amagi-senpai?" Even with the others knowing she wasn't actually a boy, it seemed the addition to her name had stuck, and responding whenever she heard it only seemed to increase its use. "Is everything alright? You look a little,…well,…um…" Naoto watched Yukiko attempt to choose her words carefully, obviously eager _not_ to offend. Her charcoal eyes, though somewhat weary, were tinged with concern.

"What Yukiko _means_ is, you look a little _shook_ _up_…'Naoto-kun'."

Naoto locked eyes with another of her Senpai to the left; the accident-prone second year, whose chestnut hair was, to put it nicely, always a bed-head styled disaster.

"I'm fine…," she responded quickly. It was really all Naoto felt she could say. She wasn't naturally a talkative person, but today she felt unusually tight-lipped. But could anyone blame her? Truly?

The whole incident was traumatic enough, but now, these people were dragging her back to this "_T.V._ _Land of Horrors_" where all reason and natural order were disgarded at the door…

…but then again…Naoto knew they weren't really "dragging" her here. She'd **asked** to join their little team, to help understand exactly who or what had caused the murders, and to prevent any others. As an officer of the law, it was her _duty_ to do so…

"My _GOD_! What is taking him so **long**?!" Naoto's attention was diverted again to the other brunette in their group, who was currently losing the battle with her _impatience_.

The girl's foot was a metronome of frustration, tapping against the pearly white and blue checkered tiles. "If Teddie doesn't get here in the next 2 minutes…," Chie fumed.

Only a few feet away from Chie, Rise Kujikawa voiced _her_ concerns with, "You don't think he ran into any trouble do you?"

The red headed girl's worry resonated with Naoto's own. After all, how wise was it to let the anthropomorphic bear from some maniacal topsy-turvy T.V. world, run around town in search of frozen treats,…**unsupervised**? Even if the worry was floating around in the _back_ of her mind, Naoto was still keeping her ears open, waiting to hear some civilians' screaming about a terrible _Teddie_-bear tirade.

It was at this moment that their charcoal haired leader decided to voice a decision.

"We don't want to waste too much time just waiting around. The sooner we get Naoto situated with the basics, the better." The young man had turned to Naoto as he said this, and gave a short nod, bringing her back to the moment he'd agreed to let her on _their_ team. His platinum eyes she noticed, though she'd never really focused on them all that often, had been rather hard and slightly distant back when she'd first seen him, just a little before they'd formally met.

She'd gotten the chance to see him, as well as the others of the team, much more up close when they 'hung out' (she wasn't sure how else to put it, and they had invited her…) during their trip to visit the Gekkoukan High School. She had seen that since then, if not sometime before that she may have missed, his eyes were much softer, much brighter. This was definitely no truer then when he was surrounded by the regulars of the team (excluding herself), his _friends_…

"Yosuke, can you and Rise head in and get started," their leader had continued. He took one look at Chie Satonaka, her right foot still rapidly attacking the tile she stood over, and added, with a slight chuckle, "…and take Chie with you too."

Chie looked up, a gracious smile on her face, "Thanks Soji-kun," and just like that, her tapping stopped, and she bounded over to Rise and Yosuke.

Giving a few glances to the unassuming customers around them as a precaution, they hastily stepped up towards the television.

"Ladies first…," Yosuke said with a grin, and gave a slight nudge to Rise at his left, and Chie at his right.

Chie responded by ceremoniously twisting the arm he nudged her with behind his back as he began cursing at the pain, and pushed him into the T.V. (She wasn't sure, but Naoto swore she could hear cursing on the _inside_ of the T.V. afterward…). The screen rippled with momentary light and static, before becoming placid once more. Naoto couldn't help thinking of a pond's serene waters being broken by a thrown stone, and then relaxing. She guessed, with mild humor, that her accident prone senpai had been the "_stone_" in this case.

Chie stepped aside as Rise approached the television. Rise gave a small smile towards Soji, (Naoto wondered if anyone else noticed it) and then hopped right inside after Yosuke. Again Naoto was momentarily mesmerized by the rippling effect on the screen.

Just as Chie was preparing herself to leap in through the screen, a familiar voice targeted the remaining members from the aisle behind them, yelling, "Heeeeeey!

"About damn time he got here…all this for a friggin' Topsicle…," muttered Chie, before gripping the television and thrusting herself inside head first.

Naoto could do little but stare at the young "man" _skipping_ towards them, with lips smeared with what she assumed was strawberry ice cream. She was having a hard time understanding, as this was definitely not whom she'd been expecting. Though, she _had_ seen him **before**, hanging out with the group infrequently around town, or on the class trip…

Either way, the anthropomorphic bear with bad puns, **that** was whom she'd been expecting. Not this blonde and rather _pretty_ boy in a ruffled shirt. Naoto began to wonder if this boy too possessed a **Persona**…

"It's a good thing you got here when you did Teddie, Chie was just about to let you have it for being late…," Yukiko said with a small smirk, and light turn of her head. "Oh, and here," Yukiko handed the boy a small red cloth, "You have some of your treat left over on your mouth…"

As the boy reached out to grasp the cloth with his hands, Naoto winced at the sudden flash in front of her eyes. Could the boy…Was he…The kid seemed to actually be **sparkling**…, or was that merely a trick of the light?...

"_WAIT_," thought Naoto suddenly, as how Yukiko addressed the boy abruptly dawned on her, "_TEDDIE!?_"

As the boy began to race forward about a story of long lines, lost quarters, and dangerous fire-hydrants, Naoto couldn't help but gape at the bishonen boy and his ice-cream splattered mouth. _This_ was **Teddie**?! This boy was the bear in the _clown_ suit that had aided in her rescue…? _This_ was **Teddie**?!

"_That's completely illogical…could I have misheard…or…_" Naoto wasn't sure what to think.

"That's right…Y-You don't know..."

Naoto looked up at the tall platinum head of Kanji Tatsumi, the most imposing figure of their tiny squad. That in itself was something of a **miracle**. She didn't know when, but at some point after their initial meeting, Kanji seemed physically unable to look at her anymore, and not just avoid eye contact either. He constantly went out of his way now to turn his head, or even his body, in an entirely alternate direction, and she had no idea in the slightest as to why. Even now he was doing his best to avoid direct eye contact. His face was pointed in her direction, but his eyes were focused on the floor tiles between them.

"Don't know…," Naoto questioned.

"About Teddie, I mean…," Kanji elaborated. "After he got his Persona, one afternoon, when we were all together…Teddie showed us that he was also now able to um…_take off_ his bear-skin….And, that's basically what he looks like." Kanji looked up for a brief second, only to see that Miss Shirogane's face was focused rather solidly on the bear/boy she'd just been informed of.

"My goodness…," was the only response Naoto gave.

Soji gave the blonde boy a slight pat on the head, and ushered him towards the television, which was still slightly a-buzz with static.

"_I can't let these little things faze me anymore. Not if I'm getting ready to prepare for everything inside the Midnight Channel…_," resolved Naoto. She watched as Teddie, and then Yukiko made their way into the television, both times watching the slowly diminishing customers to make sure no nosy-bodies were watching the event.

She hadn't realized, that while attempting to psyche herself up in preparation for what they were about to do, that she'd already begun walking towards her new Senpai.

She stared up at him as his zephyr eyes gazed into her own. She very nearly missed what he was saying because of those eyes.

"…like I said, it can be a little disorientating, so Kanji-kun and I will hold onto you."

Naoto felt her Senpai's firm and steady grasp on her left arm, Kanji-kun's apprehensive and weary grip on her right.

"You ready," Soji asked.

They were in front of the television now, only a foot or two away from the screen. At this proximity, even Naoto's breath was enough to slightly disrupt the serene black image.

"Yes Senpai," Naoto affirmed. She was ready for this; ready to give it her all, in order to indefinitely stop whoever was responsible for breaking the serenity of the town.

She stuck one foot out into the screen, and flinched at the feeling. It was like her foot had fallen asleep, been doused in ice water, and developed the most horrendous case of itchy sensations, all at once. Naoto took a deep breath. "_Like I said…no more allowing these small things to faze me anymore._"

Naoto took a deep breath and nodded.

XxXxX

In the next instant, the remaining three teens that had been standing somewhat oddly in front of the large and fancy flat screen televisions were all gone. Not a _trace_ of their mismatched group anywhere to be seen.

XxXxX

So that's the first chapter for ya...hope at least a few of you think its worth reading the next chapter I'm intending to update. Leave a Review to show you care. Oh and...PERSONA 4 COMES OUT TODAY!! REJOICE FANS! REJOICE!


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